Allardyce Confirms Nobody Wants Our Old Irons

So Sam has confirmed that there have been no firm bids for our three England internationals. With £20m paid for Henderson and £16m for Jones, it seems that youth is the order of the day. When you buy an asset, you want to be able to depreciate it over a number of years. The going rate seems to be £2m per year for a quality player, so that establishes Parker's value at £4m to £6m, Green's at £6m and Cole's at...well we are talking quality players!

Of course, this presents a major problem for West Ham and Sam. Parker is not going to set the N Power alight if he stays. His energy and drive may be a "special quality" amongst the primadonas of the Prem, but sweat and guts go with the territory in the lower divisions. He may be a very good beaver but one beaver is much the same as another beaver in an orgy of beavers and Brazilians with a hint of flair are a much more attractive proposition if you want to impress.

As for Green, there will be plenty of big lumps happy to crowd him at corners and set pieces, exposing him as the flawed keeper that all sound judges of the art of keeping know him to be. Sam knows just how weak he is, of course, because he has repeatedly exposed him in the past.

And as for Cole, dropping a division will not result in wider and taller goals. If you can't hit a barn door in the Prem, you won't be able to hit a barn door in the N Power. In fact, Carlton is likely to be afforded more time to think before he shoots, and we know how that will screw up his performance!

So Sam is saddled with three "stars" he would much rather offload. The club, however, have unrealistic ideas about the worth of three jacks rather than kings of their trade. The problem is, as each week goes by, so the cost of retaining these three mounts. At £169,000 a week, it only takes a month to waste three quarter's of a million pounds - for sitting on their arses doing nothing! That inflated contract given to Parker is looking more and more stupid every day!